Eh, we'll have to hear more to say it's above Heritage, as Heritage also had a couple of straightforward songs like Slither and The Devil's Orchard. I really liked Heritage's free flowing, almost lazy structure. It made for a very mellow and warm album to listen to while relaxing/being tired. I wouldn't have a real problem with Pale Communion displaying a similar struture. Although it probably won't, and that would probably be for the better. No need for Opeth to stagnate at this point.

Coincidentally those were the two songs from Heritage I really liked. I Feel the Dark was alright too, if only because it had some of that old school Opeth darkness that was missing from most of the album.

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Earthcubed wrote:

I'm just perpetually annoyed by Sean William Scott and he's never been in a movie where I wasn't rooting for his head to sever by strange means.

Huh, yeah, this isn't the Opeth I'm into at all. I wish they'd do another album like Damnation if they're set on leaving behind the extreme metal. Oh well, enough people seem to dig it to make it worthwhile.

Mike's vocals sound a lot more confident here than they did on 'Heritage'. In fact, this reminds me of 'Ghost Reveries' in a way. The production is probably part of it. Also, as has been noted, this is a lot more coherent than anything from 'Heritage'. I could maybe have used a couple different sections to spice things up, but I'm not complaining. The groove and solo in this song are damn nice. This bodes well for the album!

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Zodijackyl wrote:

Anything but undying, eternal praise for Awaken the Guardian is completely wrong and a disgrace to you, your band, family, and Facebook friends list.

That track was a lot groovier than I expected. I'm still a little skeptical since I am in the camp that loved Damnation but got bored by Heritage so I may just have to listen to more stuff before reserving judgement.

I can't believe that the band I used to love once has turned to this horrible melodramatic rock band. I'm sorry to say but "Cusp of Eternity" just flat out sucked for me. The whole song just drags this blurry semi middle-eastern melody over and over with zero trace of a good riff or hook. The solo is a overkill played without the feel Mikael once possessed. I guess no more Opeth for me. Why Roadrunner has to ruin every good metal band that's getting some attention?

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gomorro wrote:

Infact I use to have a relly hot friend from there but unfurtunetly the last party we have I was really wasted and grab her ass and it cause a huge problem. Her dad (that is a marine) wants to ripp my nuts... thinks are not the same...

I don't think Roadrunner has nothing to do with the band's direction, come on now. It's hardly a commercial sound... It's funny that some of you guys are surprised by their direction, it was already established with Heritage. I think the song is better than most things on the previous album, it has a better direction for sure.

i for one enjoy this new direction they're going in. much as i love blackwater park, that extreme metal/soft prog style was kinda tired by ghost reveries. they're great musicians and mike writes songs well. if the rest of the album is on par with this song, that's good enough for me.

I don't think Roadrunner has nothing to do with the band's direction, come on now. It's hardly a commercial sound... It's funny that some of you guys are surprised by their direction, it was already established with Heritage. I think the song is better than most things on the previous album, it has a better direction for sure.

I agree, Roadrunner had nothing to do with Opeth shifting their sound. Mikael has stated since the Lamentations DVD that death metal hasn't been his forte for a while. I just hope the rest of the band members are 100% on board with this new direction, since almost all of them come from metal backgrounds anyway, especially Akesson and Axenrot.

It was actually Mendez that spurred Mike to write the Heritage album. He presented Martin with a few songs that sounded like Watershed, and neither was feeling them, so when Mendez said he wanted to move beyond that style, Mike took that as a signal to write stuff that had no death metal in it anymore.

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Earthcubed wrote:

I'm just perpetually annoyed by Sean William Scott and he's never been in a movie where I wasn't rooting for his head to sever by strange means.

I just heard their new single "Cusp of Eternity", which on first listen I thought was horrible. It's just lifeless and emotionless. Even Mikael sounds terrible. I swear the more confident he gets in his clean vocals, the worst they sound,

I for one was never a huge Opeth fan. Its one of those band I should love, and maybe might have loved if I discovered them earlier, but never really did. They have high highs but never stuck with me. That being said I absolutley LOVE that first single Cusp of Eternity. I will check this one out for sure.

I liked Cusp Of Eternity better than this one but so far it seems to me that this album is closer to their older material than Heritage was (in some regards, at least) and that makes me more interested that I was previously. It's amazing stuff even if I'm not getting throttled with a ton of crunchy death metal riffs, which for me is kinda weird.

Really good song. I really like this more obvious prog-rock-inspired style. Not to be redundant, but I've liked Opeth's cleaner portions more often than the rougher counterpoint. They're an interesting band. Looking over the reviews yesterday, I was intrigued by how all over the place the review scores were. If "Eternal Rains Will Come" is indicative of the whole album (and, there is bound to be signature variation) I'm bound to enjoy it.

Wow, I went into this thinking it was going to be garbage (I assume that for all Opeth albums) but man, those tones and organs and synth sounds are delicious....it's pure prog and it's badass. That "intro" part was wondrous.

Leaked. After my first listen I like it a good deal better than Heritage. It's both more enjoyable and more varied. Overall, it just sounds more like the Opeth I know and love but with a few new elements.

Ok, it's Opeth so it's hard to get into after only 1 spin but it's both heavier and more atmospheric than Heritage, the prog rock elements are simply more involved and there's no (or less) filler than on the previous one. Even though the instrumentation is rich and there's plenty of jazzy sections, accoustic guitars, keyboards, the album felt cohesive. There's no overall highlights so far because of this but "Moon Above, Sun Below" might be my fav so far.

Per usual, it's hard to comment on an Opeth album after only one listen. But I will say this: there are some sections to songs that had me thinking, "this is some of the most moving/beautiful passages Opeth has written."

Having never been an Opeth fan, I was kinda drawn towards heritage because it didn't sound stereotypically metal like most of their other work was. I can agree that it was a bit dense though and lacked, I dunno, cohesion? Despite not knowing a damn thing about Opeth though, I can agree with all of the positive comments about this album so far.

This is the record I've been wanting them to release since Ghost Reveries. After Watershed, it was really obvious that Akerfeldt's heart just wasn't in metal anymore. Watershed was still pretty good (Porcelain Heart is one of the best things he's written) but it didn't do it for me as a whole. Heritage was unfocused and kind of a jumbled mess. This, though. This is great. It's like the lovechild of Ghost Reveries and Damnation, sprinkled with the successful elements of Heritage. Probably some of the most cohesive songwriting they've done in a long time, too. Elysian Woes and Voice of Treason are totally awesome. Particularly the end of the latter. Hot damn.

1. I enjoyed the album overall, though I've only listened to it once and it will take multiple before I finalize my opinion. The "Damnation + Ghost Reveries" comparison being thrown around seems apt, and Ghost Reveries is one of my favorite Opeth albums.

2. The problems with Heritage (lack of coherency/focus) have been seemingly corrected, which is a big factor in my first point. There's still some chaos and unpredictability, but it's not a jumbled mess like Heritage was.